Lav Diaz | Early Morning Talk
«I have a very strange feeling about cities, empty cities. It gives you the apocalyptic feel that one day all things, you know, will pass….».
«The river is a source, a source of so many things….».
«We were supposed to do a gangster film, and I asked the producer to do a musical instead. Because it is very urgent. It is about what is happening now. I use Marcos’ epoch to mirror what’s happening now».
«We have a role. I think cinema has still a [political] role. That’s why I did this film».
«The work tries to dissect the truth. For me it is very important. … For me the most positive thing in this engagement called life is fighting for the truth».
«You should go out to find an agora. I think that’s engagement now, to get out of our institutions and walk. … That’s the new revolution: go out».
Text: Giuseppe Di Salvatore | Audio/Video: Ruth Baettig
After the premiere at the Berlinale 2018, Lav Diaz’ Season of the Devil (Ang Panahon ng Halimaw) came to Basel and won the Bildrausch-Ring der Filmkunst 2018 – together with Lucrecia Martel’s Zama.
The early bird catches the worm. At the Rhine in a silent Basel, the artist is awake, and has to awaken the people to resist fascism. We met Lav Diaz at 5:30 a.m., on Sunday, and discussed with him his latest film, almost a musical, Season of the Devil. It swims against the current, a gesture of resistance and hope.
Season of the Devil is not an easy film, and it somehow lacks the perfect organicity of his other films. Even the jungle is no longer a place of freedom from the urban and social oppression. We always have the feeling of there being no way out from the coils of fascism. Friends and enemies share the same space. The overflowing lyricism cannot but become an uncomfortable presence after some time. However, Season of the Devil is equally an engaged and an engaging and motivating message for the intellectuals and artists to take their responsibilities, spread a new and urgent awareness, and achieve an inner revolution against inertia and fear.
Info
Season of the Devil | Film | Lav Diaz | PHL 2018 | 234’ | Bildrausch Filmfest Basel 2018
Bildrausch-Ring der Filmkunst 2018
First published: June 07, 2018
